A reason (Jason)

[scott caleb holloway]

The morning had been tiring for Scott. A trip back and forth to New Haven was bad enough in itself, but he'd ended up talking about some pretty upsetting things with the tattoo artist and it had been emotionally draining as well. Luckily, there was the fact that Jasey was coming over to see him later that afternoon or more towards the evening really. Once he got home he went into the bathroom and soaked for about an hour in his therapeutic bath tub, trying to ease the intense pain that had settled in his back and pretty much entire lower body. After all he wanted to at least not be in a horrible mood when Jasey came over. He hadn't seen his best mate for a couple of days, mostly because he hadn't been at school because of his back and because they'd both been busy with their own things.

Jasey had no doubt been to see Cain at the hospital a few times and if he was going to be honest with himself, he felt like a complete asshole for not having been there more himself. Fact was though that hospitals seriously freaked him out and the idea of seeing Cain in a coma laying on a bed much the same way Jack had done before he'd died. Well it was something that was incredibly hard for him to do. Sure he'd stopped by twice, but he hadn't been able to stay for long unless he'd wanted a full breakdown and that wouldn't do Jagger or anyone else any good. He needed to be supportive, and not be a total fucking mess over it. It wasn't what they needed from him right now. He'd been where Jagger was, he'd lost people because of cars before and he knew there wasn't much he could say to make things better. They were all going to worry about Cain no matter what he said, not to mention the fact that he was fucking terrified of loosing Cain himself. The guy was like family to him, they all were, and even the thought of loosing someone else just killed him.

Tonight though he was going to do his best to keep Jasey's mind off things and just hang out and have a good time. Maybe Jasey would even give him a massage to ease the pain, Jasey was always so good at that. Then they could hang out and have dinner and just talk the night away. They'd done it on countless occasions before and he loved it every time. Sometimes he had to laugh because to the outside world it might even seem like they were more than friends, cuddling, giving each other massages, always hanging out. It wasn't surprising if people might think they were more than friends, but it wasn't like that. They were just really close and comfortable with each other. Not to mention they were both comfortable about their friendship and the fact that they could do those things without it having to mean more than just two friends hanging out and sometimes comforting each other.

A smile slid across his face as he stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in just a pair of sweat pants and a hoodie, there was no need to look awesome tonight, the main idea was to be as comfortable as possible. Heading over to the kitchen he pulled out quite a few pill boxes from the cabinet and gathered an assorted pile of different pills on the counter. Shaking his head a little he grabbed the small pile and then popped them all into his mouth, drinking some water to rinse them down with. Once he was done with that he set about making some home made pizza. Sure he wasn't the best cook in the world but he knew how to make some decent food at the very least. Taiko came up to him and rubbed his head against his knee. "Hey there puppy, did you want some food too?" he asked as he reached down to scratch between the incredibly fluffy, white dog's ears. Putting down his utensils he went over to pour some food into the dog's bowl, then washing his hands before he continued. "You're such a good dog" he commented. He really had a seriously close relationship to that dog and sometimes he had conversations with him.

Soon enough the wonderful smell of pizza was filling the kitchen as it cooked in the oven and Scott wandered back out to the living room, laying down on the little mat he had on the floor and closing his eyes with a sigh. Today had been rough but at least he felt like he'd accomplished something. Getting out of the house, getting the tattoo in memory of his brother, cooking dinner. It was much more than he'd done the last few days, of course he'd managed to keep up with his course work, thankfully his teachers were very understanding about his condition and let him make up for not being in class by writing papers and showing that he'd studied the work on his own. It was a lot of work but at least then he could work from home and if he wanted to from his laptop on the floor. It was much better than some of the other alternatives. Now all he had to do was wait for Jasey to knock on the door.

[jason allen wilson]

jason felt bad; like he'd been completely neglectful for basically the past few weeks. and you know, to everyone who wasn't in his immediate family or alec, he really had. he had been so wrapped up in this whole boyfriend thing - getting one, for one, and then learning how to deal with being with someone that he only knew about two hours before dating - that he knew he hadn't exactly been the best friend to people who were used to seeing him all the time. and he meant to make up for that. he couldn't be with alec all the time and he kept telling himself that he'd get away to see scott, that he'd spend a few hours with brad, that he'd find a way to get away from school and alec and family and just....chill. but then when time had opened up, cain had gotten into that car wreck and from then on, life had been busy.

he had homework and class and then taking care of cain and shrinking his brother and research papers and picking up kendall's slack and cleaning around the house to satisfy his slight ocd and then of course he had to factor in time for alec which as it turned out took up a lot of his time anymore and by the time he was ready to go see scott or brad, he was tired and wasn't big on conversation and either had to go or fell asleep about after about an hour of hanging out. and he felt bad about it - he really did. he wanted time for scott - he loved scott. he was his best friend, someone who had been there for him since he was just a wee little baby jason and no matter what, he had always been there for him. and jason had returned that favor in every way that he could. but he still felt bad when he was absent from his life like this.

because scott needed him. and jason needed scott. they had a mutual understanding of one another that jason honestly didn't share with anyone else - not kendall, not jagger, not cain. not anyone. not even alec, though he had a feeling that alec was going to reach scott level soon enough. it was just that scott was someone that grew up with him. he understood the little parts about jason's anxiety, the things that jasey couldn't quite explain to other people. he never had to explain it to scott. the first time he had a meltdown, scott was there, and he'd done everything he could to keep little jason wilson as calm as he could make him. and ever since, he had been the best at it. feeling scott's touch and hearing his voice sometimes was enough to get him to relax. he could trust scott; scott was safety and security and friendship. he was nothing to panic about.

and then jason was always there on scott's bad days. when it hurt too much to get out of bed, jason was always there to try and pick up around the place, make him food, talk to him, read to him. when he was in too much pain, jason would give him massages. when he need someone there, jason was there to cuddle and hang out and watch movies and make food and all the things that him and scott just naturally...did. there was nothing sexual about it; hell, on his way to scott's place he remembered with a start that he hadn't even told his friend that he had gay thoughts, let alone that he was bisexual and had a boyfriend. they were just best friends and jason had never felt uncomfortable being close to him the way he did with other people. it was part of that 'growing up together' thing. maybe him and scott were close friends but that was all they were; friends. they were just comfortable with one another and he didn't see anything wrong with that.

so he went over to scott's that day without a second thought. kendall had given him this knowing look when he said he was on his way out, like he was doing something wrong. but honestly, what was wrong about visiting a friend? especially if he planned on going over there to tell said friend about his boyfriend, whom he loved and cared about and cherished above pretty much everything else in his life then and there? she should have been giving him that look a lot earlier for keeping alec such a secret - not that he had meant to, of course, but he really had no public way of announcing it and like he said earlier not much time to really drop by and tell people. not that the fading marks on his neck (and chest) weren't enough to tell people there was someone but still. he wanted to tell scott formally about him, let him know how much alec meant to him. so he headed over, finding his friend's growing-familiar apartment door and knocking, calling out, "is it unlocked?" in case this was one of scott's worse days.

[/justify]

[scott caleb holloway]

Once he was down on the floor he realized just how bad his condition really was right now. The ache he had been pushing to the back of his mind returned tenfolds once he didn't have anything else to focus on, and his forehead knotted in a pained expression. Taiko always seemed to know when Scott was having issues because he'd always come over and lie down next to him, offering whatever he could of support. As always Scott leaned his head against the dog and let out a soft sigh. Taiko was so comforting, and he let his eyes drop shut, sending out a small prayer that it wouldn't lead to some sort of nightmare or flashing of those all too familiar and horrible images that plagued him so often. Before he knew it he'd drifted off into a slightly restless sleep, the pain making him sort of uncomfortable and so he didn't sleep well. Taiko, as faithful as always just stayed at his side, sometimes licking his hand a little if Scott was muttering too much.

Honestly he didn't really hear it when there was a knock on the door, and his half asleep mind really just half way registered the question coming through the door. Taiko however, noticed the familiar voice right away, and getting to his paws, the dog hurried over to the door and managed to get it open. He'd been trained to do so after all, especially when it was a voice he recognized. If it hadn't been, he likely would have opened anyway, but then growled menacingly at the person on the other side of the door. However, this time he let out a small, happy sort of yip and his tail was wagging madly as Jason was revealed to be the one behind the door. Not that the dog hadn't already known of course. The small yip jolted Scott out of his light sleep as well and he turned his head to try to see who was at the door, of course his mind already knew it'd be Jason, but he was still half asleep and wasn't really thinking.

Once he saw who it was a smile spread across his face. "Hey Jasey" he said softly and tried to push himself off the floor. The crease in his forehead deepening at the jolt of pain that sent through his lower body. "I made us some pizza.. it should be done in about..." he glanced at the clock on the wall trying to remember when he'd put the pizza in the oven. "Maybe another five minutes, but I should actually check on it." he continued, trying not to cringe as he pushed himself up so he was sitting, and then getting up from there. Damn he was sore all over the fucking place. That trip to New Haven might not have been the best idea in the world, but he really did love the new tattoo he'd gotten out of that trip. It was like, well it was hard to explain but it was almost like he'd gotten a tiny bit of his brother back. He knew it likely didn't make sense to anyone else but him, but that didn't change the fact that it felt nice to look at it through the wrapping they'd put on it once it was done.

"Lock the door behind you, will you?" he asked, sure he usually kept the door unlocked if he expected company, but that didn't mean he didn't like keeping it closed whenever he wasn't expecting people. After all you never knew who might try to walk through the door once they realized it was open. Slowly and painfully he made his way over to the kitchen to check on the pizza, which seemed to be done. However as he tried to lean down to get it out of the oven a small involuntary whimper left him and he hastily straightened back out. "I think you're gonna have to get it out of the oven though" he confessed. It wasn't as though Jasey was going be fooled if he pretended to be fine anyway. The guy had always been able to read him like an open book. Nothing could be hidden from his best friend. Not when he was in pain, not when he missed his brother so much it was almost unbearable. No, things just weren't going to be possible to hide from Jasey, and that's why he loved the guy so much. They just understood each other.

[jason allen wilson]

he'd stopped being surprised a while ago by the many tricks that taiko had been taught in order to make life easier for scott. jason wasn't a dog person by any means - hell, jason wasn't an animal person by any means seeing as they all eventually got dirty and spread diseases and allergens like nobody's business. he didn't know how intelligent they were or how you trained a dog to be intelligent since they were supposed to be rather stupid animals. human psychology was more his forte than animal psychology. but after the first few times taiko scared the hell out of him by opening the door or something for scott, jason had learned to stop being so freaked out by it. he couldn't stop himself from being impressed though. he had no idea how a dog got around to answering doors and the like but he was grateful for it. at least he knew scott was in good hands when he wasn't able to be there for him and it eased his mind a little bit to keep his friend in capable hands. or, er, paws.

however, with taiko opening the door instead of scott that could only mean one thing - this was one of scott's bad days. when he walked in and saw his friend lying on the ground, it only confirmed the suspicion. he immediately went into paternal jason mode. he felt his heart pound as he watched scott try to get up on his own, trying to imagine what kind of pain he had to be in no matter what he was trying to portray outwardly. he didn't even notice the mention of pizza. he was too busy watching his friend try to get himself up, frowning slightly to himself. he did, though, turn and lock the door behind him as he stepped further into the house, per request. he then followed behind scott to the kitchen, like a protective mother bear wanting to shield her cub from the pain of the world. which really was sort of what jason was to his friend. a mama bear who just wanted to shield him from the pain.

he stepped forward and grabbed an oven mitt, casting scott a knowing look as his friend backed away from the oven. like jason was going to let him keep trying to do things for long as it was. no, the first moment he could, he was going to get that boy to a chair or couch or bed or something of the sort so that he could at least alleviate a little of that pressure. give him some painkillers. a massage. pizza. and then they could sit down and talk, after he knew that he was comfortable. jason was excited to tell him the news about alec - more than excited. ecstatic. he couldn't wait to share something like that with his best friend, since alec was someone who made him so fucking happy. but there were some things that were more important than his relationship status. things like scott's health which was almost always on his mind. jason spent a lot of his time researching his friend's affliction. it was a priority, something he needed to take care of. something he needed to try to fix.

he bent down to take the pizza out of the oven, placing it on top of the stove to allow it to cool a little bit and removing the oven mitt and closing the stove door. he turned off the heat and set the mitt on the counter, moving to find a pizza cutter to get everything taken care of while it was still hot. "grab some painkillers if you haven't already," he told scott as he grabbed the mitt again to hold the sheet steady as he began to cut the pizza. "and take a seat or lay down somewhere. i'll bring you some food and we'll let it cool, okay?" that was it. no hello. no "i really need to talk to you about this amazing guy". it was like he had just picked up where they left off, like his part in scott's life was just put on hold and he was picking it up again. that's how it was with them. all domesticity. no formalities. just picking up where they last left off.

[/justify]

[scott caleb holloway]

Scott couldn't help but to smile warmly as Jasey started taking over the moment he was through the door. It was always like this with them. The days that were worse for him Jasey would always take control and make sure they had everything they needed without him having to lift a finger. Once he was told to find some painkillers all he could do was smile. "Yeah, I'll find a few, I didn't take any when I got home yet, it was a bit early to." he explained, not that he really did need to explain anything to Jasey. The thing was, it would be so easy to start taking too much of the painkillers and to get himself addicted to them in the process. Pain was always a part of his day, massive pain actually, but he didn't want to be one of those people who got addicted and who couldn't stop taking too many painkillers even if told to. Nah he wanted to take the bare minimum of what he needed to keep that from happening.

Moving over to the small medicine cabinet, he opened it up and sighed as he looked at the massive amount of pills and the likes that was stored in there. Grabbing three different boxes of pills, he grabbed the right amount of each, looking at a small pile that was now in his hand. He didn't like that he had to take so many pills every day, and this was just one dose, there would be more to take later on. Grabbing the glass sitting next to the sink, he filled it with water and proceeded to pop the pills into his mouth. Drinking down the water he let his eyes drop shut for a moment as he swallowed them and then let out another small sigh. "I really hadn't meant to be this bad tonight, but I had to go to New Haven this morning" he explained, the statement alone should be enough to tell Jasey why he was in so much pain, sitting down for as long as that bus ride took even just one way was always enough to make him fall into intense pain. Let alone having to go both ways in a fairly short amount of time.

Once he'd had enough water then he finally smiled and turned to go out into the living room. "I'll be on the couch then, it's the more social of those options. Hey Jasey?" he smiled a little and waited until Jasey was looking at him. "Thanks, I know I don't say it too often but I really appreciate it" he didn't go into an explanation of what he was saying thanks for, he knew that Jasey would understand. They never often spoke about the things each of them did for the other, it was second nature and he didn't want to make things awkward by going too much into it, he'd just felt the need to say it. He closed his eyes for a moment and then walked off into the living room once he'd opened them back up. Letting himself almost fall onto the couch, stretching out fully, laying down really was so much more comfortable than standing up or sitting. Sitting was the worst, somehow that just made him feel so much more horrible.

Once he was comfortable, well at least as comfortable as he ever really got on his bad days, he closed his eyes again and smiled. He'd missed having Jasey around and the sound of him moving around in the kitchen was somehow soothing. It was so lonely in this apartment sometimes. Before he'd lost his parents and brother, there'd always been someone around, and then living with the Wilsons for a while, well there'd also always been someone around and some shuffling to listen to when things were hard. It was soothing to listen to people moving around, knowing someone was there even if they weren't in the same room as him. Laying around the days that were bad in the empty apartment. Well it was hard, not that he'd ever express that to Jasey, he didn't want the guy feeling bad about being busy and not having the time to come by all the time. He was glad Jasey had a life aside from just spending time here. Besides there was the whole worrying situation with Cain too.

"So, what have you been doing since you were last here?" he asked, trying to get the focus away from his own issues and onto another topic. All he wanted to do was to smile and let Jasey talk about what was going on in his life. There had been more than enough talk about him and his issues earlier, at the tattoo shop, and he really was just too exhausted to get into more details about how miserable he'd felt all day. It would be much more interesting to hear what Jasey had to say about things. Besides, he had an appointment with the therapy group tomorrow, so he'd be able to share his worries and issues with the guys there if he wanted to. Not that he didn't know he could talk to Jasey, but the others in the group had been through similar things, and they just had a different kind of understanding, a lot of things just didn't need explaining to them. When he said he felt empty, they knew what it was like without him trying to explain the feeling. "Have you done anything fun?"

[jason allen wilson]

jason gave scott a knowing and warm smile as he got his painkillers and then turned his attention back to the pizza as scott left the room, humming quietly to himself as he busied his hands with plates and glasses of things to drink, washing them before use in case they had gathered any semblance of...well, anything dirty in the time that they weren't being used. that was one of the things about jason that most people had to get used to - he usually took a while to do things and gave people a chance to situate themselves and it wasn't necessarily out of kindness though that was part of it. he didn't like to rush people. but most of it was just his personal anxiety about things and the idea that there could be dust or something worse on the plates that was microscopic and unnoticeable to the naked eye was just terrifying. so he washed his plates before and after he used them. always. that didn't change at scott's either. everything had to be just...spotless. no bad germs. no chance of getting sick. no harm done.

he dried just as carefully (with a clean towel) before washing a small spatula to lift the individual slices of pizza (since he wasn't going to touch scott's food with his bare hands) and slide them onto the now perfectly squeaky clean plates. the motions were all just very familiar. scott had been his best friend since he was very young and though they didn't exactly always have this sort of give-and-take relationship where they helped one another with their afflictions (as scott had no affliction when they were younger) they had always had the close sort of bond that got raised eyebrows and the like. because jason loved scott. he was fond of him, and he knew without a doubt in his mind that he would be lost without him. scott had been there the first time he had a panic attack. he'd been there through everything that had happened with kendall, with jagger, with cait, and through most every panic attack and worry and crazy thing jason got himself worked up over. no matter what, scott was there. always. by the time they both reached nineteen years of age, these things weren't even things they did out of politeness. they were simply routine.

he decided to leave the glasses out in case they needed to get a drink later so that he could easily carry the two plates into the living room, setting them down on the nearest flat surface so that he could take his seat on the floor next to the couch so that scott didn't have to move. he smiled fondly at his friend and rubbed a slow circle on the base of his back before pulling back his hand and shifting his weight. he usually had doubts when it came to touching people. he didn't think they were dirty or anything (okay that was exactly what he thought but he wasn't going to tell them that); he just didn't want to mix germs if he could help it and though other people tended to have a fondness for climbing all over him, he rarely returned the favor. the exception being with his siblings and cousin, cain, zane, scott, del, bradley, and now alec. there were just certain people he was more comfortable with and scott was definitely very high on that list.

scott's question about what jason had been up to brought another wide grin onto his face. which he supposed probably wasn't a good thing since most of the last week had been tiring as hell and filled with more drama than he'd like to deal with, with jagger and cain and zane and mickey and kendall being kendall and then the anniversary of cait's death coming up and then finding time to be with alec on top of it all. he'd been really stressed out and just...crazy about everything that had been happening but in the end, he supposed everything had worked out as they were apt to do. and besides, he could finally get the words out now. about his boyfriend. his boyfriend that scott didn't know about but really should, the one that he wanted his best friend to meet because if anyone could bring cheerfulness to anyone's day, it was alec hoades. the one that he knew already was just...everything. day and night, dark and light. constant. he hadn't yet shared that with him and the prospect of getting to was enough to smile about.

"i've been keeping myself occupied," he said truthfully, thinking about everything he'd been doing in the past days. "cain's doing better, though jagger refuses to come home. won't leave his side for anything and i don't know whether to be impressed or disturbed by the obvious psychological trauma." he shook his head, not wanting to think much about. jagger was one of the most psychologically interesting people in his entire life but he didn't like to dwell much on thoughts about it. maybe if jagger wasn't his brother. but the fact of the matter was that he was and he hated to remember how fucked up he truly was. "but other than that, i've just been busy with, uhm...with alec really." he bit his lip but it couldn't keep his smile from spreading across his features. "my, uh...my boyfriend. alec. who i've neglected to tell you about like some sort of horrible best friend but uhm, yeah. that's why i've been gone a lot. normally i'd be over more but he works and i like...i like my time with him." he looked up at scott. "he's great. but uhm...how have you been? has everything been okay around here without me?"

[/justify]

[scott caleb holloway]

Scott sent Jasey a warm smile as the guy entered the living room with the pizza, his stomach letting out a rather loud rumble as the smell of the food hit his nose. He hadn't had much to eat since breakfast and he was so hungry he was sure he could eat the entire pizza on his own, not that he was going to of course, he was going to make sure Jasey ate his part as well. A tiny, content sigh left his lips as Jasey rubbed a circle on his back, aside from Liam, Jasey was pretty much the only one who had bothered to figure out how to help and the movement he'd just done was always a bit of a relief. He wasn't entirely sure what it did exactly, but what he did know was that for that moment the pressure on his spinal cord eased a little and with it, the pain did the same. Sure it came back when the hand was removed from his back, but they had pizza to eat, and talking to do, and he was sure Jasey would take it up again later on anyway, it wasn't like he didn't always when Scott was having a bad day.

Reaching out he grabbed one of his pieces of pizza and then proceeded to munch on it as he waited to hear what the guy had been up to since they'd last met, which had been quite a while actually. Another warm smile spread on his lips as he was told Cain was doing better and a relieved sigh left him. "I really should visit him more..." he muttered, referring to Cain at the hospital, but hospitals freaked him out and especially the idea of seeing Cain so beaten up by the very same reason that killed his entire family. It was just too much, he'd been by a couple of times and it had been all he could do to keep himself from freaking out and having a mental breakdown, which wouldn't do Jagger or Cain any good and would just make everything worse for everyone else. "It's just... I really don't much like the hospital.." he confessed and sighed as he took another bite. "I'll make a point to get there sometime maybe tomorrow or the day after. I'll have to see if I have time after my group session." he added. He wasn't ashamed of the therapy sessions he was going to, he'd been through a lot and the sessions were one of the things keeping him sane.

His eyebrows shot up in a curious sort of manner when Jasey mentioned he'd been spending time with someone named Alec. Normally he knew the names of the people Jasey would hang out with, but apparently this was someone new. As the guy continued explaining though a smile grew into a wide grin on his face. "Jasey! That's great!" he said, honestly sounding utterly happy. Sure, he himself was having a rough day, but that didn't mean he wasn't happy for his best friend, knowing he'd found someone to love in that way. Oh this was just awesome! The grin didn't leave his lips, not even as he struggled to shift around so he could give Jasey a tight hug. The movement hurt like all hell, but he didn't care, this just deserved a hug, so a hug Jasey would get! If he'd been feeling better he'd be bouncing around all over the room all super excitedly. "Hey! Don't even worry about it! Of course you want to spend time with him, he wouldn't be much of a good boyfriend if you didn't!" he said and chuckled, sure he'd missed Jasey around, really he had. A lot. That didn't mean that he'd for one second even begin to try giving Jasey a bad conscience about spending time with his boyfriend!

If anything Scott would do what he could to make Jasey spend more time with Alec, because he knew how much Jasey deserved some happiness in that form. However as Jasey asked about how he'd been doing lately it was all he could do to keep the grin from slipping. Truth be told he hadn't been doing too great himself lately, but he didn't want to tell the guy this because it was sure to make him feel bad for not being around more, and this was the last thing he wanted. So the smile managed to stay put with some effort. "I've been alright, it takes some getting used to, having this place all to myself, but I'm getting there, and taiko of course helps a lot." he said, the white very fluffy dog lifted it's head from where he was laying on the floor and let out a small happy yip, before going back to snoozing. "I've been going to group therapy a lot, which helps too." he added, and this was the truth, he'd been to the group sessions almost every other day.

"I've been hanging out some with Liam a lot, one of the guys from the group. It's been pretty cool, he's a nice guy" was there a hint of a blush in his cheeks? Oh yeah there definitely was. "But enough about me, tell me more about this guy of yours! I mean hello! Details! What's he look like, what's he like?" he asked excitedly in an attempt to turn the attention away from himself again, he knew Jasey likely hadn't bought his story about being fine, because they'd known each other for too long to be able to lie to each other. Technically though, he hadn't lied, the things he said he'd been doing was what he'd been doing, he had just neglected to tell the guy he was having more bad than good days of late and that his back had been killing him over the last few days to the point of forcing him to stay in bed or on the floor by the tv.

[jason allen wilson]

one thing jason loved about his friends and family was just how accepting they were. honestly, it was a relief. when he had showed back up at his house with alec hand in hand wearing his jacket with a sappy smile on his face, he had gotten nothing less than a knowing look from his sister and the shake of his brother's head. and that was it. no questioning when he started having gay thoughts. not even asking why he'd suddenly gone out with a stranger and come back with a boyfriend. it was just as simple as looking at the pair of them, seeing a couple, and moving on with their lives. everyone else in their group of friends had been the same way. zane had asked a few questions about alec just to make sure he was safe since he didn't always trust kendall's judgment of character but overall, everyone had just accepted it as a part of life. he didn't think a single person asked when he knew he liked boys.

and same as everyone else, scott just went with it. he was happy for him, hugged him even though jason knew that it probably hurt him, and he couldn't keep his wide grin off his face at knowing that his best friend was so happy for him. honestly, alec was someone that fit so perfectly into his life, so perfectly in with his family, that he didn't know what to do if a single person was unhappy for him. even jagger, he knew, was really just pissed for the sake of being pissed and hated that jason had found someone that made him act like he wasn't three years old anymore, someone who would kiss him hello at the door, someone that jagger had to fear he'd catch making out with his little brother in a place where someone could see them. alec hoades was just...perfect. and jason was happy scott wanted to know about him.

his grin did falter a little bit though at the mention of scott having to adjust to the house. that was one thing he was always really worried about. scott being alone. he knew that taiko took good care of him and he did have therapy and other friends but jason had always found it his responsibility to take care of his friend. he bit into his pizza as he listened to scott talk and couldn't help but think that he needed to be there more no matter what scott would say about it. he had alec, yes, but that was no excuse to be neglecting his friend. his eyebrows did raise slightly at the mention of a boy he'd been hanging out with and the blush on his friend's cheek was more than enough indication that it was more than just that he found someone to hang out with. even if it was just in scott's mind. and that was cute. his grin returned to its full width at the mention and he made a mental note to look for this liam person. just to make sure he was good for his friend.

he was going to push the issue. ask about liam and group and how he was feeling that day and ask if there was anything he could do to help. but scott turned the conversation back around to him and jason figured that meant he didn't want to talk about it. and when he did, he would - jason couldn't make him. besides, he wasn't going to give up an opportunity to gush about his boyfriend, something that everyone else around him had been getting really fucking sick of lately. it was nice to have someone that he could explain alec to, someone who hadn't met him and didn't have any preconceived notions about him, any false impressions, or bad experiences. someone who cared about him and could see how happy alec made him. someone who actually cared.

so he took another bite of pizza before smiling widely and thinking back on the few weeks he'd been spending with this new boy in his life. "we'll talk later," he assured him, referencing the things that scott said about his life. "but i'm not going to give up an opportunity to talk about alec." he could feel the goofy grin on his features, could almost see the way his eyes were sure to light up at saying his boyfriend's name. "he's...fantastic. a whole other world of fantastic, man. you'd love him if you met him." he slipped his cell phone out of his pocket, flipping through it to find a picture of his boyfriend before handing it over to scott to show him. "he's the sweetest guy in the entire world. very laid back. very funny. really child-like actually. and he makes me the happiest i think i've ever been." he bit his lip. just thinking about alec was enough to make him miss him but it made him so happy at the same time that it was like he was floating. "i mean he took me out to ice cream and called it a first date. that says something about the guy, right?"

[/justify]